Friday, July 01, 2011

IELTS Speaking Part 3: 'lessons' topic

The following answers are at 'band 9' level. Which words and phrases help my answers to get such a high score?

1. What do you think makes a good lesson?

I think a good lesson is one that is interesting and engaging. By 'engaging' I mean that the students should feel involved in the lesson; they should feel that they are learning something new that is relevant to them. In my opinion, a lot depends on how the teacher delivers the content of the lesson in a way that students like. My favourite teacher at university used to involve the students by making us teach some of the lessons ourselves.

2. Do you think it's better to have a teacher or to teach yourself?

Well, there's no substitute for a good teacher. I think you can teach yourself, but you can learn a lot more quickly with the guidance of a teacher. For example, when learning a language, you really need someone to correct your mistakes; you can get the grammar and vocabulary from books, but books can't tell you where you're going wrong.

3. Do you think the traditional classroom will disappear in the future?

I don't think it will disappear, but it might become less common. I think more people will study independently, using different technologies rather than sitting in a classroom. Maybe students will attend a lesson just once a week, and spend the rest of their time following online courses or watching video lessons.

Comments

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For me it is like that
1 .. that is interesting and engaging,..that is relevant to them,..teacher delivers the content of the lesson,..making us teach some of the lesson ourselves.
2...substitute,..with the guidance(under the guidance),..
3....study independently,..different technologies rather than sitting,...rest of their time,..on-line courses and watching video lessons.
It is very important to use good vocabulary on right time to score right band.I wish i can do that in my exam!

Hi simon very nice answers. i am new in this site as i hv read ur couple of lesson these are really good indeed thankyou very much and i know u dont check essay. can u just tell me about my gramer sentence wether those are right or wrong and hv i got right overwiew abt this task. I would be very thankfull to u.
regards

aged couple was lower.
The table compares the percentage of families who lived in poverty in Australia in 1999.

Overall, the significant proportion of sole parents and single with no children were living in impoverishment in comprasion with ,the number of single aged person and
In 1999,the proportion of all households was only 11%. However,sole parents stood at 21% which is the highest figure shown in table.The level of poverty among single,no children was 3% less than sole parents.
In contrast, couple with children were 12% whereas,the figure for couple without children wes only 7%.

6%of single aged people were living in poverty, copared to only 4% of aged cople.

Hi Simon
If i talk less than 2 minutes in cue card session does it affect my score?What are the key points to get a high score in speaking?
Your lessons are extraordinary and effective.Today i spent all the time on your website.
Thanks for everything.

According to your advice i am improving in reading and writing.Now i have made a plan for study and i think i must share with you. Each day i spend some of my time to read Newspapers on topics below
health,technology,environment,education
and rest of the time i worked on writing,listening and speaking.
Do You Mind Could Please Tell Me is this enough for me to get higher score or do i need to work more.

Thanks Simon
I love your Blog in sense of reading and getting more information and i like it

. What do you think makes a good lesson?
I think good lesson depends on the teacher personality, the students’ tolerance and the school facilities . if the teacher has a good personality he would be able to control the class and therefore the students would like it because if there is no interference and disruption he would be able to confine it by a wise plan..Discipline students foster friendly studying environment, this would motivate the teacher to achieve well with best catering of the material; the reason is the catering of the teacher in any lesson would be more interesting and their good behaviour will motivate him to cover all the important points of the subject carefully, especially if the subject is a sophisticated topic in math or physics. Lastly, if the school has good teaching facilities such as white board, slide projector unit and specific labs for physics, chemistry and zoology, the lesson would not be boring because the practical approach would give them a good boost to understand the subject; for example , if they want to study the shape of the bones of frog or human beings , it will be more beneficial to see these items physically and practically, the zoology lab would do this job properly.
2. Do you think it's better to have a teacher or to teach yourself?
I think no body can deny the contribution of teachers to society but in this modern world the importance of the roles of teachers is becoming to confine and disappear due to the invasion of the computers and internet. However, I personally believe that it is illogical to develop the child properly without a proper guidance. Computers can not do this job, teachers can.
3. Do you think the traditional classroom will disappear in the future?
I think so but it will still be considered the most beneficial method of teaching. Thus, private teaching sectors will consider it by large. For example, in the uk there are some very expensive private schools considering old methods of teaching in their curriculum.

Hi Simon, if incase, we do not know the answers to certain questions in the speaking part, can we say that we do not have much knowledge about it, or is it wrong to do so, for eg. questions about politics or economical growth, as I'm not too good at such topics.I know its not meant to test our knowledge but certain questions can be answered only if we have some knowledge about the subject.

Hi Simon
I passed speaking yesterday.
Questions: about hometown,
in part 2: describe a vehicle that you would like to buy,
in part 3: What types of transport are there in your town? Are now passenger transports better than in the past? What types of transport do you think we will use in the future?
thank you for all your advice

Maybe festivals will disappear as countries and cultures become more similar. On the other hand, festivals might become more popular because global tourism means that more people can travel to visit different festivals.

[b]answer1[/b] - A good lesson should be interesting and effective. If it is necessary, teacher should improve the content with some visual objects such as slide shows or maybe short movies relevant to topic.

[b]answer2[/b] - It certainly depends on the teacher you choose. If you choose one who really encourages you to learn and involve you to be creative, it would be better for you to study with this teacher. But if you don't feel like you are not learning anything OR the things the teacher delivers are easily learnable by books or some online classes, you'd better teach yourself for not to waste your time.

[b]answer3[b/] - I truly don't suppose that traditional classrooms will dissapear. In contrast, i think they'll increase in order to support all new student because the number of population is getting higher and higher everyday, and today we can easily see more people want to have an education, compared to yesterday. But it doesn't mean some new types of teaching will exist such as online classes.

you say , "It might become less common" . might is the simple past form of may , is it correct we use it for future tense? is this more correct "It may become less common" , the future form of "may" is "may"

You've got it a bit wrong: "might HAVE" is used for the past, but "might" alone is used for the future e.g. "I might see you tomorrow." You can use 'may' or 'might' in the example 'it might become less common'.